I was disappointed to see Francesca get voted out. I've liked her (from what little we've seen) both times she's been on the show.

Why was everyone so surprised at Cochran's sunburn? Don't they remember his blindingly pale skin from the last time around? You can't take that kind of skin, expose it to equator-esque sun and expect it to be ok.

I am truly grateful for all our service men and women, and I usually root for them whenever I can. I found it disappointing that the Marine yelled out, "Break her wrists!" during the challenge. I get that there's a Marine mentality that may be hard to get out of, but c'mon. This is a game, not war.

Was Malcolm this quiet last season? I guess he and Denise had a lot of camera time simply because their tribe dwindled so quickly, and he had to talk to the camera. I was expecting to see more tribe involvement from him this time around. I get the strategy behind flying under the radar, though. I think I'm just curious why he voted the way he did, who he's having conversations with, etc...

The group of "high school cool kids" has done a nice job of putting a target on their backs. They're too busy patting themselves on the back for being cool to realize they're being stupid.

Short of Philip and the angry Marine, no one else appears to be toxic - yet.

I'm looking forward to watching this season play out!

__________________Never let the facts stand in the way of a good answer. -Tom Magliozzi

Former Federal Agent Underpants seems to have done the impossible -- gotten even more delusional. Brandon seems to have gone even further off the deep end, too. And all of that scribbling all over him!

But I still like Malcolm, Dawn, Cochrane and even Corrine and Brenda. It's going to be interesting to see how Malcolm does, since he's the one favorite whose season no one would have seen play. (This season started filming less than 3 weeks after last season's final tribal council.)

And the other guys are supposed to be fans? Did the fan foursome miss the repeated examples over the years of how coupling often leads to a quick exit from the island? Did Shamar miss all the examples of what can happen to the lazy and disagreeable? Laura, Michael and Sherri impress me. The rest of the fans, not so much. I want to like Reynold, but so far his gameplay is pretty sloppy. Maybe he can pull it together.

Reynold isn't totally sloppy. I didn't get to watch this week's episode until last night. His finding the HII was pretty darn good. The fact that someone figured out he had it was pretty surprising to me. A bulge in the pocket means he has an idol? I thought he did good when he said at TC that he was going to play it that night and then chose not to.

I don't know how long I can take Phillip and I'm really surprised they kept him at the first TC.

I know what you mean. I guess the producers decided to stop addressing the Russell factor these days.

On another note...
Enough with the March Madness already. The last two episodes have been on tape delay because of UK basketball games. That has irritated me, but I understand. After all, UK basketball is it's own brand of religion around here. Since Kentucky isn't playing tonight at 8, I thought I'd actually get to watch Survivor when it's aired, but no. I have no interest in the Florida/Vandy game; I want to watch Survivor! Isn't this what ESPN is for, anyway? Argh!

__________________Never let the facts stand in the way of a good answer. -Tom Magliozzi

So I hope everyone is watching this week for the oh gee what a shock Brandon is going off episode.

Seriously, planted idols and Brandon being an absolute mental case. Shamar is a Marine with two tours and he lets himself come on that show so physically wrecked out that his fat butt can't do anything?

I can't remember when I've wanted to reach through the screen on any other Survivor and just smack somebody. Maybe the chick in the Amazon but that was a while back.